Gameweek 24 Fantasy Premier League Tips and Picks

For starters the best tip I can give you for gameweek 24 in the fantasy Premier League is to make sure you play your January wild card if you haven’t done so already. With that said, let’s dive into this weekend’s picks.

Every FPL season starts out with managers trying to find a balance of value players combined with picking the high priced superstars. Many fantasy soccer players saw Manchester United’s squad and began drooling and clearing room for the likes of Angel Di Maria, Falcao, Juan Mata, Robin van Persie and even Wayne Rooney. Still others picked up Adnan Januzaj hoping he would carry on where he left off at the end of last season.

The bad thing is that none of these players have fared as well as anybody expected them to. The highest ranked United player in the Official Fantasy Premier League game is David De Gea with 91 points. To be fair, Robin van Persie is level with him, but regardless that is only good enough to be 25th in FPL points.

Rooney’s 85 points ranks him 33 while Mata is 36th with 83 points and Angel Di Maria is at 52 with 75.

The problem with all of this is that their value in terms of return of investment is just nowhere near what it should be. De Gea is the cheapest out of all of these at £5.9M, but he’s a goalkeeper and that price puts him as the second highest.

In terms of price van Persie is still the highest priced United player at £12.2M, but his 91 points is nowhere near the top scorer, Alexis Sanchez, who has 144. He is producing, in FPL valuation, 7.46 points per million pounds. Sanchez, on the other hand, is producing 12.7 points per million pounds.

There are so many other forwards out there worth picking up, even taking a risk on, rather than including someone like Robin van Persie in your squad.

Then, there is the predicament of Wayne Rooney. Earlier in the season he was producing fantasy points, but more recently he has been moved further back on the pitch and is playing almost exclusively as a central midfielder. Despite this, he is still listed as a forward.

The nice thing about most fantasy baseball games is that if a player is played in a position for a certain number of games he has that position added to his profile and can be played there for your fantasy team. I really wish this was a thing in fantasy Premier League because of Wayne Rooney. He is clearly no longer being played as a forward, and yet, there he is, listed as a forward. The reverse could also be said for Alexis Sanchez who is still listed as a midfielder.

With Wayne Rooney he has been gradually declining in his ability to produce fantasy points as he is moved further back in midfield. With his price at £10.8M he is still the second highest priced Manchester United player but has produced just 85 points.

He has consistently produced points, but in the last five weeks has earned two points in each of those matches. His last big game came in week 18 during the Boxing Day 3-1 win over Newcastle United.

I could go on and analyze every Manchester United player and say why each one is not worth picking up, but the problem lies more in the ever evolving formation that is the Manchester United squad as van Gaal seeks some semblance of balance.

The back three, or four, or five has finally been solidified as they have the third best defensive record having allowed just 22 goals this season. This includes seven clean sheets and makes their defenders and goalkeepers have some value.

The problem remains that they are still expensive, mostly due to the fact that they play for Manchester United and are expected to perform. Herein lies the problem for all FPL managers looking to pick up Manchester United players.

At this moment they are a massive risk. The defense is looking better, but the value isn’t there. The offense is still a risk due to the inconsistency in scoring goals and their high price means that there isn’t any value there either.

My tip going forward is to avoid Manchester United players. I may be a massive supporter of the club, but this is not the time to be picking these high priced, low value players in the hope that they will eventually click and start scoring points.

With that said, it seems inevitable that now that I start dumping them from my teams it will all come together and start scoring points. Still, I would much rather have that be the case then continue to waste valuable fantasy money on players who just aren’t getting the points.

Make sure to follow me on twitter to stay up to date on news and posts here and finally, don’t forget to play your wild card.